Feature Channels: Meteorology

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Ice core records from the two poles show that during the last ice age, sharp spikes in Arctic temperatures triggered shifts in the winds around Antarctica.

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Can thermal solar energy be stored until wintertime? Within a European research consortium Empa scientists and their colleagues have spent four years studying this question by pitting three different techniques against each other.

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Changes in precipitation, which are linked to the warming of the Indian Ocean, are the main reason for recent changes in groundwater storage in India.

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The frequency of large-scale tornado outbreaks is increasing in the United States, particularly when it comes to the most extreme events, according to research recently published in Science.

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Irvine, Calif., January 5, 2017– Climate researchers and weather forecasters get their rain data from a network of precipitation-sensing satellites that orbit Earth. iRain, a new mobile phone app developed by engineers at the University of California, Irvine puts the same precision rainfall information into the pockets of the public.

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An analysis of the strongest tropical storms over the last half-century reveals that higher global temperatures have intensified the storms via enhanced rainfall. Rain that falls on the ocean reduces salinity and allows typhoons to grow stronger.

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Active Atlantic hurricane periods, like the one we are in now, are not necessarily a harbinger of more, rapidly intensifying hurricanes along the U.S. coast, according to new research performed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Global Temperature Report: December 2016

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A University of Iowa study finds the threat of flooding is growing in the northern half of the United States and declining in the South. The findings are based on water-height measurements at 2,042 stream and rivers, compared to NASA data showing the amount of water stored in the ground.

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Marine low clouds hover in the lowest couple of kilometers above the world’s oceans. They produce little but drizzle, and could never match their deeper mid-continent cousin clouds for dramatic weather and severe storms. But marine low clouds are vastly important to the world’s climate and energy balance.

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A paper released December 15 during the American Geophysical Union fall meeting points to new evidence of human influence on extreme weather events. After examining observational and simulated temperature and heat indexes, the research team—which included three scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—concluded that two separate deadly heat waves that occurred in India and Pakistan in the summer of 2015 “were exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change.”

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In the days before Hurricane Matthew, researchers used satellite maps of soil moisture to help forecast where the power would go out along the East Coast.At the American Geophysical Union meeting this week, they report that their method worked with 91 percent accuracy.

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In a new study, researchers describe a fully-automated, portable, and energy-independent rainout shelter. This new design will allow researchers to more effectively field test crop varieties for their tolerances to water stress.

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Biodiversity on earth is greatest in the tropics with the number and variety of species gradually diminishing toward the poles. Understanding exactly what shapes this pattern, known as the latitudinal diversity gradient, is not just key to knowing the nature of life on Earth, but it also could help scientists slow biodiversity loss and protect areas of the globe that generate a disproportionate variety of species.

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University of Utah researchers will be among the approximately 24,000 scientists convening in San Francisco for the annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union Dec. 12-16. Below are summaries of select presentations at the meeting, along with the time and date of the presentation and primary contact information. All times are in Pacific Standard Time.

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We watch crystallization take place every winter when ice crystals form on our windows. But no one had ever seen it happen at the molecular level – until now. The Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Ronny Neumann and colleagues have created a way to observe this phase of crystallization, verifying long-held theories.

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U.S. record high temps could outpace record lows by 15 to 1 before century's end

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A Texas Tech researcher is part of a team that will use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to measure factors that lead to storm development.

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The effects of climate change will likely cause smaller but stronger storms in the United States, according to a new framework for modeling storm behavior. Though storm intensity is expected to increase over today’s levels, the predicted reduction in storm size may alleviate some fears of widespread severe flooding in the future.

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In a new study, Columbia Engineering researchers looked at increasing trends in the severity of tornado outbreaks where they measured severity by the number of tornadoes per outbreak. They found that these trends are increasing fastest for the most extreme outbreaks.

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Intense storms have become more frequent and longer-lasting in the Great Plains and Midwest in the last 35 years. What has fueled these storms? The temperature difference between the Southern Great Plains and the Atlantic Ocean produces winds that carry moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Plains, according to a new study in Nature Communications.

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An University at Buffalo PhD student received a $225,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a system of telescoping concrete boxes to be used as “rise on demand” flood walls. The walls can be installed below ground level, so as not to block any water views, and can be raised when the threat of flooding occurs.

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With massive coastal storms on the rise, a new study describes a method for stakeholders in vulnerable communities to be involved in preparing for, absorbing, recovering and adapting from devastation.

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New research published in the journal Scientific Reports and co-authored by an Associate Professor at Skidmore College suggests the Northeastern coast of the U.S. could be struck by more frequent and more powerful hurricanes in the future due to shifting weather patterns.

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The Northeastern coast of the USA could be struck by more frequent and more powerful hurricanes in the future due to shifting weather patterns, according to new research.

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Dr. Hugh Christian is getting ready to watch 36 years of work rocket into space. Once successfully launched on Nov. 19 aboard the GOES-R satellite on an Atlas V 541 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the NASA/NOAA Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) promises to make better “nowcasting” of dangerous weather possible.

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Global Temperature Report: October 2016

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Scientists have agreed for the first time that recent severe cold winter weather in the UK and US may have been influenced by climate change in the Arctic, according to a new study.

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Understanding how tiny particles emitted by cars and factories affect Earth's climate requires accurate climate modeling and the ability to quantify the effects of these pollutant particles vs. particles naturally present in the atmosphere. One large uncertainty is what Earth was like before these industrial-era emissions began. In a paper just published in Nature, scientists collaborating on the GoAmazon study describe how they tracked particles in the largely pristine atmosphere over the Amazon rainforest, which has given them a way to effectively turn back the clock a few hundred years.

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University of Alabama in Huntsville scientists study whether a sudden slowing of wind after it accelerates over Sand Mountain in the northeastern corner of Alabama might help explain why tornadoes are more apt to form there.

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Research by the University of Southampton shows that a change in the patterns of tropical storms is threatening the future of the Mekong River delta in Vietnam, indicating a similar risk to other deltas around the world.

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New research from the University of Montana demonstrates a unique relationship between fluid volume and fluid temperature during arduous work in the heat. The study, published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, indicated that an ice slurry/water mixture was as effective as ambient water even when consumed in half the quantity. Investigators also emphasized the importance of rest.

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Severe 2012 drought could have been predicted months in advance.

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To help improve hurricane preparedness and mitigation efforts, new University of Iowa–led research examines how accurate current forecasting systems are in predicting rainfall from North Atlantic tropical cyclones that make landfall in the United States.

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New research from North Carolina State University has found that wind patterns in the lowest 500 meters of the atmosphere near supercell thunderstorms can help predict whether that storm will generate a tornado.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – An interdisciplinary team of researchers is using a unique model to predict how many U.S. residents will lose power because of Hurricane Matthew.As of Thursday morning, Oct. 6, the team predicted 9.6 million people will lose electricity.The model was developed by researchers from The Ohio State University, University of Michigan and Texas A&M University.

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With the climate warming and the sea level rising, conditions are ripe for storms deadlier and more devastating than Sandy that put more people at risk. That’s the outlook from David A. Robinson, a Rutgers geography professor who has served as the New Jersey state climatologist for 25 years.

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Empty shelves of bread and canned goods aren’t just a sign of last-minute hurricane cravings—the purchases are also a coping mechanism, says a University of Georgia weather and climate psychologist.

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Tricia Wachtendorf, Director of the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center, is an expert on evacuation decision making and response during disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. She has conducted field research during Hurricane Katrina and other events.

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Hurricane Matthew could knock out power for approximately 7 million people in the United States in a wide swath stretching from Miami to the Carolinas.